#Happy’s Place: Emma Kenney (The Conners) Talks About Role on NBC Comedy Series

(Photo by: Casey Durkin/NBC)

Happy’s Place saw the arrival of Bobbie’s daughter Gracie on Friday night’s episode, and the actress behind the role, Emma Kenney, spoke about her appearance in a recent interview with TV Insider. She is best known for her roles in Shameless and The Conners.

Reba McEntire, Belissa Escobedo, Melissa Peterman, Pablo Castelblanco, Tokala Black Elk, and Rex Linn star in the NBC comedy, which follows a woman who inherits her father’s bar after his death only to find out she will be running it with a half-sister she never knew she had.

Kenney said the following about her appearance on the series:

“Stepping onto the Happy’s Place set at Universal was so welcoming. Everybody was so kind and wanted to make sure I was comfortable and felt I had everything I needed, and I was really lucky for that. I’m not used to going to a set as the newbie coming onto an already established cast. So I was a little nervous going into it, but as soon as I met everyone, my nerves were really made at ease.”

As for her character and whether or not fans will see Gracie again, she said the following:

“I definitely felt there was a big character growth in this one episode. When I read the script, I could see it, but I wanted to make sure it was received. Gracie starts at one note, her relationship with each character kind of evolves a bit, specifically with Reba and Belissa’s characters, and I wanted to make sure that you could see some heart in her and see the growth, which I had a really good time creating with Reba and Belissa.

We wanted to establish the energy between my character Gracie and everybody in Happy’s Place. So I wanted to make sure that was very much in the forefront of my mind and her toughness contrasts with her moments of vulnerability, which I feel makes her relatable and a multidimensional character.”

Fans of Kenney will see her on the final season of The Conners on ABC later this spring.

What do you think? Are you a fan of Happy’s Place? Do you want to see more of Kenney on the NBC series?